From a sociologist's perspective

Monthly Archives: April 2012

The final stages of dissertation writing, as it turns out, are not conducive to a prolific blogging career. I do hope to have two posts up soon– one about voucher initiatives across the country and another about an excellent new book on parish closures.

However, I am writing today with a shameless plea. In the course of my continuing research I have developed a question that seemed like it might be best answered by the Catholic Conversation’s readership.

If one were to be interested in tracking down all the pastoral letters ever written about Catholic education [or any other topic for that matter] in the United States… where might the best place to look be?

Emilio Morenat. The Chicago Sun-Times: “Vatican waging a War on nuns” by Carol Marin (4/20/2012).

Last week, the Vatican’s Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith released the results of its on-going doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the larger of two umbrella organizations representing the majority of women religious in the U.S. Since then, the story has been picked up by hundreds of media outlets across the U.S. and abroad, and these stories have already led to campaigns in support of LCWR sisters. Many others have discussed and will continue to discuss the details of the Vatican’s recent decision to reprimand the largest leadership organization of women religious in the United States. The substance of this story is surely important to readers of “The Catholic Conversation,” but I have been especially fascinated by the pictures and images that accompany these news stories. Continue reading →

Sorry, I’ve been away traveling and the blog has been relatively silent as a result. However, I am back and we should have posts up soon. I’m looking forward to a post (or two or three) discussing the LCWR situation from a sociological viewpoint. We are also hoping to have a post on school vouchers and their consequences for Catholic school enrollment, and much more this month. Finally, I’ve gotten some passionate comments from readers that I want to include in our conversation (along with responses), so look for all of that coming soon to The Catholic Conversation.

I am currently working on a Master’s Thesis project at Loyola University Chicago examining parish cultures around politics. The study focuses on two ethnographies in the Archdiocese of Chicago[1] – 1) an ethnography of St. Mary Magdalene Parish, a self proclaimed social justice parish with a collective narrative of “All are Welcome,” and 2) St. Pius Parish, an active parish in the Archdiocese working on issues regarding respect for life. A finding I am currently working through is an unexpected focus at both of the parishes on human sexuality. Continue reading →

As a pastoral planner and researcher for the Diocese of Cleveland, I spend a lot of time tracking ministry trends. One that has my attention at the moment is the degree to which parishes are becoming more intentional, organized and participative in their consultation and ministries.

This movement toward intentionality can be seen through a number of indicators, specifically the increasing use of mission statements, parish pastoral councils, and pastoral planning by parishes, as well as the broadening of consultation with the laity in the exercise of parish leadership.Continue reading →

Meta

It’s been a while since any of the contributors to the Catholic Conversation have posted, so I think it’s time to change that. Here, I would like to call attention to an interesting map I happened to come across on … Continue reading →

By Michael McCallion, Janet Shay, Laura Piccone-Hanchon, Michael Chamberland, and Ida Johns We interviewed over forty (44) coordinators of youth ministry (CsYM) in parishes of the Archdiocese of Detroit (AOD) in the winter/spring of 2014 (we use CsYM throughout this … Continue reading →

One of the things that I like about Catholicism is its liturgical calendar, complete with feast days and other special celebrations throughout the year. It seems like there is always some saint or special occasion to celebrate. This week is … Continue reading →

You can find an excellent reflection on an article I wrote about parish-level evangelization at Practical.Catholic.Evangelization. Colleen’s key insight is that intra-church politics serve to distract us from what is most important about Church. Here is how she puts it, “Though Starks’ … Continue reading →

Below is another awesome guest post from Rachel Chow, Master’s student in Theology at Notre Dame (and CSPRI research assistant). _________________________________________________________________________ This semester, the CSPRI Catholic Social Teaching reading group (join us if you’re in the South Bend area!) has … Continue reading →

This is a guest post by Rachel Chow. Rachel is a Notre Dame graduate theology student, currently working on her Master of Theological Studies and working with CSPRI. Last month, the New York State Catholic bishops issued a statement entitled, “’For … Continue reading →

With yesterday being the memorial of Saint Katherine Drexel, who founded schools in the Southern United States for African Americans and in the West for Native Americans, and on the heels of Black History Month, it seems overdue to recognize … Continue reading →

I usually really appreciate posts at Vox Nova, which is why I put the site on the Catholic Conversation’s blog roll. So, when I feel they’ve gotten something wrong, even if it is only in tone and style rather than … Continue reading →

Many of you may recall the buzz on both The Catholic Conversation and other media over the past few months regarding Pope Francis’ call for global input in preparation for the October 2014 Extraordinary Synod on “the pastoral challenges for … Continue reading →

Bob Butz passed away Feb. 5, 2014 at the age of 92. “I love to teach.” That was Bob Butz’s simple response to a question from a reporter, asking why he was still teaching in his late 70s, long after … Continue reading →